Reverence Journal

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Circles of Influence

"As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.
Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples." - Matt. 9.9-10

There is an evangelistic principle present in this passage. Jesus had no prior interactions with tax-collectors in the book of Matthew. In vs.9 He asks one tax-collector to follow him. Only one verse later Jesus is surrounded by "many tax-collectors".

When a person decides to follow Jesus, their circle of influence is likely to follow. One person in recovery will bring other people in recovery. One musician will bring more musicians. One young family will bring another young family. One college student will bring other college students. One person who gets healed will bring another person who needs to be healed. Get the idea?

You do not have to create new social networks to reach people for Christ. You need to reach one person and connect to that existing network of people. Eventually you'll have a spiderweb of opportunities to reach people for Jesus.

Respond to God: What pre-existing social networks or circles of influence do you interact with?  How could you utilize those relationships for Christ?  What might it look like if several people in that network came to faith in Christ?  Which of them do you think are closest to coming to faith?